Bertelsmann Spared From Napster Handover

Law360, New York (March 15, 2007, 12:00 AM EDT) -- As the Napster copyright battle continues to unfold, a federal appeals court has ruled that Bertelsmann does not have to reveal its lawyers’ private correspondence regarding the $50 million loan the German giant gave Napster in 2001.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court ruling that had demanded that Bertelsmann turn over the documents in the ongoing war over the now-defunct file-sharing service.

Bertelsmann has been caught up in the drawn-out copyright infringement battle through a multimillion-dollar investment...